Kerstin Lillemor Ekman (née Hjorth; born 27 August 1933) is a Swedish novelist.

Life and career

Kerstin Ekman wrote a string of successful

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...

s (among others ''De tre små mästarna'' and ''Dödsklockan'') but later went on to psychological and social themes. Among her later works is ''Mörker och blåbärsris'' (1972) (set in northern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

) and '' Händelser vid vatten'' (1993), in which she returned to the form of the

. Ekman was elected member of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

in 1978, but left the Academy in 1989, together with Lars Gyllensten and Werner Aspenström, due to the debate following

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a d ...

s posed to

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

. In 2018, the Academy granted her resignation, the rules of membership having changed to allow members to resign. In 1998, she was awarded the Litteris et Artibus medal.

Partial bibliography

:''See the article on

Swedish Wikipedia The Swedish Wikipedia () is the Swedish language, Swedish-language edition of Wikipedia, started in 2001. A free content online encyclopedia, it is the largest reference work in Swedish history, while consistently ranked as the most visited or on ...

for a complete bibliography.'' * '' Blackwater'' (''Händelser vid vatten'', 1993), translated by Joan Tate, 1996 * ''Under the Snow'' (''De tre små mästarna'', 1961), translated by Joan Tate, 1997 * ''The Forest of Hours'' (''Rövarna i Skuleskogen'', 1988), translated 1998 * ''Grand final i skojarbranschen'' (2011) * ''Då var allt levande och lustigt : om Clas Bjerkander : Linnélärjunge, präst och naturforskare i Västergötland'' (2015)

The Women and the Town (''Kvinnorna och staden'') Tetralogy

* ''Witches' Rings'' (''Häxringarna'', 1974), translated by Linda Schenck, 1997 * ''The Spring'' (''Springkällan'', 1976), translated by Linda Schenck, 1999 * ''Angel House'' (''Änglahuset'', 1979), translated by Sarah G. Death, 2002 * ''A City of Light'' (''En stad av ljus'', 1983), translated by Linda Schenck, 2003

The Wolfskin (''Vargskinnet'') Trilogy

* ''God's Mercy'' (''Guds Barmhärtighet'', 1999) * ''The Last String'' (''Sista rompan'', 2002) * '' Lottery Scratchcards'' (''Skraplotter'', 2003)

References

*2009-11-21 ''

Nationalencyklopedin (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version. History The project was ...

'' • http://www.ne.se/kerstin-ekman

External links

Kerstin Ekman: Be careful of writers. Interview with Kerstin Ekman
recorded during the Louisiana Literature festival, 2012. Video by Louisiana Channel. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekman, Kerstin 1933 births Living people People from Finspång Municipality Members of the Swedish Academy Uppsala University alumni Selma Lagerlöf Prize winners Nordic Council Literature Prize winners Litteris et Artibus recipients August Prize winners Swedish women novelists Women mystery writers Moa Award recipients Swedish mystery writers Writers from Östergötland County